Ypsilanti District Library to launch book club for underserved teens
YPSILANTI, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The Ypsilanti District Library has received a grant from the American Library Association to launch a book club series for underserved youth.
YDL is one of 58 libraries nationwide to receive grant funding and support from the American Library Association for the bi-weekly program.
In addition to two $500 programming stipends, the library is receiving brand-new books for the club, which will be gifted to participants.
"There's going to be book club meetings, and people are going to talk about these different books that are going to be in parts of different themes that are designed to grapple with big questions and help teens think about big, deep things," said YDL Community Relations Coordinator Sam Killian.
During the program, trained teen librarians will discuss stories with the book club that explore topics of identity, equity, race and history.
The two themes of the program include "Finding Your Voice: Speaking Truth to Power" and "Deeper than Our Skins: The Present Is a Conversation with the Past."
A total of eight books have been curated for the program, including:
∙ "The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo
∙ "I Am Alfonso Jones" by Tony Medina
∙ "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
∙ "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
∙ "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
∙ "Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices" edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
∙ "Mother of the Sea" by Zetta Elliott
∙ "Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A." by Luis J. Rodriguez
"Our teen librarian will be facilitating discussions with a representative from Ozone House to kind of be able to really have nice rich discussions about these books that we're hoping will be really impactful for all these youth," said Killian.
Ozone House is an emergency youth shelter in Washtenaw County that aids homeless and at-risk youth.
Outreach coordinator at the shelter, Brie Nikora, will help facilitate the book club discussions.
"I think we learn best in community, and so being able to share our experiences and process them verbally with each other, and even have conflicting ideas, that creates a more well-rounded, whole conceptualization of what is at play here," Nikora said.
The Great Stories Club is set to kick off on October 3.
For more information, visit www.ypsilibrary.org.
